On stage at Bluesfest...with a mop

If you were at Bluesfest on Friday night, you probably spent a good hour huddled under an umbrella or dashing for cover as the skies let loose and the wind sent the speakers swaying.

When it looked as though the rain might stop, the stages became a mass of crews -- mopping, swabbing the decks, unwrapping the instruments from their plastic covers... All of which got Alan thinking about what happens backstage when all that is going on. So on Monday we got the backstage scoop on what happens when things go wrong at a big festival like Bluesfest -- courtesy of Bluesfest technical director Scott Pollard, sound engineer Ken Stone, and volunteer Eric Sladic, who mopped up the mess for Wanda Jackson on Friday.